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Archive for November, 2008

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, probably the American holiday that is most centered around eating a dead animal. So it makes sense that each year around this time there are news stories about turkeys, vegetarians and of course, Tofurky.
Turkey-friendly holiday fare
The week began with a review of ARFF’s vegan Thanksgiving potluck in the Orlando Sentinel:
In a holiday […]

Click here to view our photo of the week. The photo is of a City of Naples firefighter using a special oxygen mask to revive a Monitor lizard named Rex, while a young boy– the lizard’s guardian– watched intently. According to firefighters, a heat lamp in the lizard’s tank fell over sometime on Wednesday and […]

Chickens have roamed Tampa’s historic Ybor City neighborhood for decades, threatened only by feral cats, fast-moving vehicles and the occasional hawk– that is, until a few weeks ago.
Apparently, a business owner complained about chickens “lurking” around their establishment. There were even accusations that roosters had entered a business and scared off patrons. We find that […]

This week the Ocala Star-Banner wrote about a unique program that helps homeless individuals and families by helping their pets. Veterinarian Kevin Stoothoff, who owns South Ocala Animal Clinic, is working with two local organizations– Brothers Keeper and Interfaith Emergency Services– that operate a soup kitchen and food pantry. His efforts will be partly supported […]

Congratulations to Gohar Rajabzadeh, a student at Miami International University of Art & Design, for being named the winner of this year’s Cool vs Cruel fashion design competition. The annual competition, sponsored by The Humane Society of the United States and The Art Institutes, celebrates fur-free, animal-friendly fashions. Click here to see Gohar’s winning entry, […]

Apparently, circuses have become so accustomed to defending their use of animals that they raise the subject even before animal advocates do. For years, ARFF has protested the Cole Bros. Circus during its late fall tour through Florida. Friday’s Florida Today newspaper described ARFF’s outreach efforts in Titusville, “The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida follows […]

It has been big news. Barack Obama promised his children that a dog would join the family after the presidential campaign wrapped-up. The American Kennel Club offered to help the Obamas find a “responsible breeder” (oxymoron) from which to purchase a dog, but the president-elect put a smile on the face of homeless dogs everywhere […]

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission reported last week that a man in Bay County was caught on a game camera spraying a deer feeder* with an animal repellant. The hunter who owns the feeder, and the camera, had wondered why deer were not visiting his property.
Florida, like many states, has an odd law […]

Yesterday, voters in California overwhelmingly approved a measure that prohibits the confinement of chickens in battery cages, young cows in veal crates and female pigs in gestation crates. Over 60% of Californians accepted the common sense idea that animals should have, at the very least, enough room to stretch their wings, turn around, stand up […]

Massachusetts voters provided another other exciting victory at the polls on Tuesday. Voters approved a ballot question banning greyhound racing in the state (the ban takes effect in 2010).
Supporters of the ban used data kept by the State Racing Commission to show that each year dozens of greyhounds suffer serious injuries, such as broken legs, […]